It”™s true ”“ a woman”™s work is never done. Just ask Cheryl Rogowski of Rogowski Farm in Pine Island. She has worked her family”™s farm, 150 acres of its rich Black Dirt-region soil, all her life.
The barn is a vegetable and herb paradise and an agricultural oasis for local food products, where kitchen wizards can market homemade wares along with Rogowski”™s ever-changing and bountiful harvest.
Giving Hudson Valley home-based foods like Hoboken Eddie”™s barbecue sauce, Spacey Tracey”™s pickles, Onion Country Kitchen”™s onion jelly and Hudson Valley Fresh milk a shelf to sit on is good business, allowing farmers to partner with other food producers to form a stronger bond, said Rogowski.
The occasional “outsider” ”“ Birds and Beans coffee, which originates in Canada ”“ is also on the shelf. Five percent of all sale proceeds goes to the Orange County Audubon society, which makes it very appealing to Rogowski, who noted the coffee was “not just organic; it does help out locally.”
Rogowski offers a café-style area where she has been serving breakfast and lunch on the weekends for the past year ”“ “All fresh from the farm, of course,” ”“ Rogowski has made her farm a year-round producer for vegetables and herbs via her unheated greenhouses.
Rogowski”™s is a CSA (community supported agriculture) farm for those who want to know the where, when and how of the food they are eating. Now in its 12th year, CSA members buy shares of the farm and harvest the benefits ”“ or share the loss ”“ of the seasons. Rogowski”™s CSA has grown from a dozen to more than 150 members.
“When we have a great harvest, our members benefit,” said Rogowski.
“When we have a terrible loss, as we did last year, they share in that, too.”  Rogowski said last year”™s tomato blight and bad weather cost the farm $100,000 in lost produce and productivity. “I don”™t have to tell you, we are hoping 2010 will be a bountiful year.”
Food not taken by CSA members is donated to local food pantries.
Last year”™s tomato blight caused prices to skyrocket, and Rogowski says signs of the disease have turned up on Pennsylvania farms. “Naturally, we”™re watching our crops for any hint that we are going to experience that again.” Since the farm is focused on vegetables and herbs, Rogowski is partnering with fruit farmer Elizabeth Ryan in Dutchess County for jams, candies and fresh fruit sold in the barn,
“We are certified ”˜naturally grown”™ ”“ an alternative certificate program to being classified as an organic farm,” said Rogowski. “We are inspected by the public rather than by the USDA (Department of Agriculture). People come in, check out the fields and growing conditions; some will either ask questions if they are new to buying farm fresh or give us feedback if they are knowledgeable growers. Then we turn those reports over to Certified Naturally Grown to be certified.”
Certified Naturally Grown in New Paltz supplies Rogowski with the forms for participants to fill out. “It”™s very difficult for a small farm to get certified as ”˜organic”™ by the USDA,” said Rogowski. “The paperwork is time consuming and an incredible amount of work to keep up with it. CNG is a great alternative for the small farmer.”
How about pesticides? “It isn”™t possible to farm without using them ”“ but to be certified as ”˜naturally grown,”™ we use pesticides that are not harmful to humans or animals and that occur naturally, not in a laboratory.”
Rogowski participates in farmers”™ markets in the Hudson Valley and New York City, but her home base is her farm in Pine Island, where her CSA members, regular customers and weekend warriors converge to reap.
On Wednesday, June 23, Rogowski will host an event to showcase local dairy farmers”™ products, including Hudson Valley Fresh, and celebrating her family”™s 55 years in farming. While the open house is going on, others will be out in the field filling out forms for Rogowski”™s reporting requirements toward Certified Naturally Grown status.
“It will be a busy day for sure,” smiled Rogowski, “but a great one. People want to know where their food comes from, and the only way to do that is to get to know their farmers and to actually visit and check where the food they eat is being grown and harvested. People are becoming more and more conscientious about what they are feeding themselves and their families.”
